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Alex's Reviews > Curtain
Curtain (Hercule Poirot, #44)
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I am sad that I had to give 2 stars to an Agatha Christie book because I am a huge fan. I took this book with a lot of hope. This book is so famous I thought I will have a fantastic reading experience with it. I felt distraught after reading it.
The 2 stars are for the following:
The original idea of the story, a criminal who puts thoughts into people and make them commit crimes. It was brilliant. Totally awesome.
Secondly, the book portrays many kinds of people and their relationships. And I thought Christie was able to bring justice to that.
Things I hated about this book:
Characters: Apparently the only character I could like was that of the murderer.( sigh!) All the rest of them were totally unbearable. Couldn't stand anyone including Poirot. I couldn't accept their opinions. I hated Poirot for constantly mocking Hastings who is mind you his closest friend and has come to visit Poirot because he asked for him. Now if I were Hastings, I would have left Poirot to succumb to his ailments, the way he treated me. Its almost close to abuse. This is the book where I truly hated Poirot. Ok enough with this stuff.
Plot: Oh boy. Even though the story line and relationship between the characters are greatly written, the whole story is really stupid. Like Poirot must be held responsible for atleast one murder and another attempt at murder. He could have prevented that from happening. Instead of that he just sits back in his chair and relaxes, leaving poor clueless Hastings to figure out who the murderer is, from a bunch of obnoxious, dark people.
Conclusion: Equally terrible. Has any of the readers thought about the fact that if Poirot ( trying to avoid spoilers here, please bear with me) did what he did at the end of the story, at the beginning, everything would have been set right. Instead he waits idly so that Christie has a novel to write about!
Really! This is probably one of the few Christie novels in which I feel Christie was trying to mock at the intellect of the reader as well as that of Hastings! (Obviously).
The 2 stars are for the following:
The original idea of the story, a criminal who puts thoughts into people and make them commit crimes. It was brilliant. Totally awesome.
Secondly, the book portrays many kinds of people and their relationships. And I thought Christie was able to bring justice to that.
Things I hated about this book:
Characters: Apparently the only character I could like was that of the murderer.( sigh!) All the rest of them were totally unbearable. Couldn't stand anyone including Poirot. I couldn't accept their opinions. I hated Poirot for constantly mocking Hastings who is mind you his closest friend and has come to visit Poirot because he asked for him. Now if I were Hastings, I would have left Poirot to succumb to his ailments, the way he treated me. Its almost close to abuse. This is the book where I truly hated Poirot. Ok enough with this stuff.
Plot: Oh boy. Even though the story line and relationship between the characters are greatly written, the whole story is really stupid. Like Poirot must be held responsible for atleast one murder and another attempt at murder. He could have prevented that from happening. Instead of that he just sits back in his chair and relaxes, leaving poor clueless Hastings to figure out who the murderer is, from a bunch of obnoxious, dark people.
Conclusion: Equally terrible. Has any of the readers thought about the fact that if Poirot ( trying to avoid spoilers here, please bear with me) did what he did at the end of the story, at the beginning, everything would have been set right. Instead he waits idly so that Christie has a novel to write about!
Really! This is probably one of the few Christie novels in which I feel Christie was trying to mock at the intellect of the reader as well as that of Hastings! (Obviously).
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Reading Progress
Started Reading
August 7, 2019
– Shelved
August 7, 2019
–
Finished Reading
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Hello Toral Pathak! Exactly. What I felt so disappointing about this book is, how it has been listed among some of the top Agatha Christie books. It is so popular and I don't know why.
Totally agree. The storyline idea was interesting. The tempo of the events, which is very famous in agatha novels, wasn't there. We dont have the crime until very late. Moreover we don't see poirot often.I am a big fan of poirot and i picked up this book after reading Hercule Poirot's Christmas which was fantastic and had high expectations since this is his last appearance. Totally disappointed. In my opinion , this is a very boring novel, save for plotline idea and the twist ending.
I can't say a happy " Good bye, cher ami" to poirot.
Haha, so true Srinivasan. I was disappointed with this book as it didn't make any sense to me.
Haha, so true Srinivasan. I was disappointed with this book as it didn't make any sense to me.
I'm reading it right now and wondering why such a high rating. Totally agree with you.
Haha, glad to know there are people who share my unpopular opinion regarding this book. Such a terrible way to kill off Poirot. Waiting to read your review about this book, Aileen.
As you say, Poirot was SO nasty to Hastings in this one! If I were Hastings, I'd have told H.P. to either watch his damn mouth or deal with his problems on his own, then headed home if H.P. insisted on continuing his insults.
And it was a rather haphazard way to put an end to the character of Hercule Poirot